Top News

Indore, Aug 11 (PTI): The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday expected the Centre and the state government to find a way to provide financial assistance, considering the need for additional Rs 1 crore for the treatment of a three-year-old girl suffering from 'Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type-2', a rare medical condition.

Justice Sandeep N Bhatt of the Indore bench of the HC, while hearing a petition filed by three-year-old Indore resident Anika Sharma, noted that the cost of the injections required for SMA treatment is approximately Rs 9.55 crore, and financial assistance of up to Rs 50 lakh is available under a central government scheme.

Petitioner's lawyer, Chanchal Gupta, informed the court that approximately Rs 8 crore have been raised through campaigns run by various non-governmental organisations and charitable institutions.

He told the court that this amount is currently with the concerned institutions.

The high court directed the petitioner's lawyer to submit all the relevant details from these institutions and an affidavit stating that they are willing to pay the treatment amount to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, upon the bill for the injection.

The court stated that the bill from Novartis, the company that manufactured the injection, must be made available to AIIMS for necessary action.

The HC noted that even after combining the central government's assistance of Rs 50 lakh and the approximately Rs 8 crore raised through crowdfunding, an additional amount of Rs 1 crore was still needed.

"It is also expected that looking to the special circumstances, the government can also find out some way to consider such cases under exceptional case to provide further financial assistance which is also to the tune of Rs 1 crore after adding Rs 50 lakh as by the government and Rs 8 crore which are already collected through crowd funding by various institutions," the HC said.

It is also open for the state government to find out some way to provide some financial assistance. It is also expected probably by the next date that the further amount can be received from other organisation/ institution so that the treatment of the said child who is suffering from rare disease can be started at the earliest." The court has fixed the next hearing of the case on August 18.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a genetic neuromuscular disease. In this, the motor neurons present in the spinal cord gradually get destroyed, due to which the muscles become weak and start degenerating.

Motor neurons are specialised nerve cells found in the brain and spinal cord that transmit messages from the brain to the body's muscles for various functions, including breathing, swallowing, and speaking. PTI HWP MAS NP

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)